Spinning frame



Dec. 30, 1958 J. P. MACKIE SPINNING Filed 001;. 31', 1955 I n venior Jofln P Mack/e Attorneys United States Patent SPINNING FRAME Application October 31, 1955, Serial No. 543,772

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 4, 1954 Claims. (Cl. 57-36) This invention relates to gill-spinning frames as used for the spinning of yarn from hard-fibred materials, such as sisal and manila. In such machines the faller bed is usually horizontal or approximately so, but in some cases it may be inclined at an appreciable angle to the horizontal. In any event the flyer is arranged to turn about a vertical axis so that the fibres issuing from the faller bed are led downwardly around the face of the drawing roller to the flyer. Owing to the stiifness of the fibres, they tend to resist being bent out of their normal path and consequently a considerable proportion of them are found protruding from the body of the yarn, thus causing a hairy and unattractive-looking product.

This diificulty is partly overcome by the provision of a smoothing die as described, for example, in the specification of British Patent No. 653,870 for a gillspinning frame wherein, in order to pull the yarn through the smoothing die, haul pulleys are mounted directly above the flyer so as to turn with it. The difiiculty still exists, however, that the yarn must be turned from the line of the faller bed to a vertical direction before the twist has been fully applied so that there is still a slight opportunity for occasional fibres to protrude.

Attempts have been made to eliminate this difficulty and produce a firm even yarn with a smooth glossy finish throughout its length by spinning horizontally, as described in United States Patent No. 1,217,067, wherein the hand pulleys are assembled in close proximity to the bobbin and flyer head and in axial alignment with but at a distance from the nipper rolls and smoothing dies; but horizontal spinning introduces other difficulties.

According to the present invention, therefore, the haul pulley assembly is separated from the flyer and aligned with the axis of the smoothing dies nearby, so that its effective axis, that is to say, the line along which it exerts its pull on the fibres, lies at an angle to that of the flyer, which is mounted above the bobbin on the same vertical axis therewith in the customary way. Thus it will be understood that the twist is imparted to the fibres by the haul pulley assembly before they reach the flyer so that in turning through the angle between the effective axis of the haul pulley assembly and the flyer, the yarn is fully twisted and the danger of loose ends protruding is very slight.

Preferably both the axis of the smoothing die and the effective axis of the haul pulleys assembly are arranged in line with the fibres emerging from the faller bed so that the fibres pass directly into the smoothing die. The fibres pass from the smoothing die to the haul pulley assembly still without deviation and the twist imparted by the haul pulley assembly runs back into the smoothing die. Thus the yarn emerging from the haul pulley assembly is still in line with the fibres emerging from the faller bed and is fully twisted so that it may be turned through the angle to pass to the flyer without any appreciable risk of loose ends protruding.

2,866,310 Patented Dec. 30, 1958 ice A construction in accordance with the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a side elevation.

-The gill-spinning frame shown in the drawing has a horizontal faller bed 1, from which the fibres 2 are drawn by means'of drawing rollers 3 and 4. The fibres emerging from the drawing rollers pass directly into a smoothing die 5 fitted with a trumpet-shaped conductor 6. The fibres emerging from the smoothing die 5 pass to ahaul pulley assembly indicated generally at 7.

This assembly is driven by a rope 10 passing around a pulley 11 on which are mounted the individual haul pulleys 12 and 13. These are each connected to gearwheels 14 and 15 respectively meshing with a stationary central pinion 16 so that the individual haul pulleys are caused to turn as the complete assembly rotates about the stationary central pinion 16. The whole assembly is mounted to turn about ball bearings 17 secured in a stationary mounting 18.

The yarn is passed backwards and forwards between the two haul pulleys 12 and 13 in the usual way and the assembly thus exerts a pull on the yarn in a horizontal direction, which may thus be regarded as its effective axis. Thus it will be seen that the faller bed, the smoothing die and the effective axis of the haul pulley assembly are all arranged in a horizontal straight line with one another so that the yarn suffers no deviation and there is no appreciable tendency for loose ends to protrude.

The twist is applied to the yarn by the rotation of the haul pulley assembly 7 and this twist passes back into the smoothing die 5, being prevented by the die from passing back further into the drawing rollers 3 and 4. The yarn emerging from the haul pulley assembly at 20 is thus fully twisted and can then be bent downwardly towards the flyer 21 without difficulty. In the example shown, the twisted yarn has to be bent through a right angle but it will, of course, be understood that if the faller bed is inclined at an angle to the horizontal, the yarn will have to be bent through a correspondingly smaller angle. In passing between the haul pulley assembly and the fiyer, the yarn passes over a conductor surface 22 and is then wound on the bobbin 23 by means of a flyer 21. Thus it will be understood that the function of the flyer is merely to maintain the twist imparted by the haul pulley assembly and to wind the twisted yarn onto the bobbin 23, which is dragged by gravity in the usual way.

The flyer 21 is driven from a pulley 24 and since the flyer must rotate in the same sense and at the same speed as the haul pulley assembly 7, the rope 10 is used to drive both components. The path of the rope 10 is thus round a driving pulley 30 and thence via a guide pulley 31 and a tension pulley 32 to the pulley 24 driving the flyer. After leaving the pulley 24, it passes around a further guide pulley 34 and then round the pulley 11 driving the haul pulley assembly and thence back to the driving pulley 30.

Thus my improved gill-spinning frame is free from the tendency heretofore encountered, when spinning yarn from hard-fibred materials, for loose fibres to protrude and give the final product a hairy unattractive appearance, because the smoothing dies hold the fibres in a compact circular configuration at the point where the twist takes its effect, which ensures that the loose fibre ends are held in place by the twisted yarn during the following treatment while the yarn is conducted along a curved path into the flyer and given its final twisting as it is wound on the bobbin.

I claim:

1. A gill-spinning frame for hard-fibred materials, such 3 as sisal and manila, characterized by the arrangement having a fiyer turning about a vertical axis, a smoothing die and haul pulleys for pulling the yarn through said smoothing die, in which the haul pulley assembly is separated from the fiyer so that its effective axis lies at an angle to that of the flyer.

2. A gill-spinning frame according to claim 11, in which both the axis of the smoothing die and the eifective axis of the haul pulley assembly are substantially in line with the fibres emerging from a fallcr bed.

3. A gill-spinning frame according to claim 1, in which a conductor surface is interposed between the haul pulley assembly and the flyer, so as to turn the yarn smoothly from one to the other.

4. A gill-spinning frame according to claim 1, in whichthe haul pulleys and flyer are driven by a common rope.

5. A gill-spinning frame for hard-fibred materials, comprising a non-vertical faller bed, a pair of delivery rollers, a smoothing die mounted adjacent said delivery rollers, a haul pulley assembly for pulling yarn through said smoothing die, a flyer turning about a vertical axis, said fiyer being spaced away from said haul pulley assembly and the effective axis of said haul pulley assembly being at an angle to the axis of said flyer, and conductor means for turning the yarn from the line of the axis of said haul pulley assembly to the line of the axis of said flyer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 564,275 Finigan July 21, 1896 1,217,067 Rice Feb. 20, 1917 2,097,540 7 Tracy Nov. 2, 1937 2,334,420 Lang Nov. 16, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 120,152 Austria Dec. 10, 1930 444,660 Italy Jan. 26, 1949 484,059 Great Britain Apr. 29, 1938 653,870 Great Britain May 30, 1951 709,597 Great Britain May 26, 1954 

